Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ Sins Past ❯ Cast and Crew ( Chapter 1 )

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Then

The room was dark. Empty. It sat there. Not asleep. Not waiting. It was not expecting anything. But it was aware. Perhaps the only word is…preparing. But for what?

Its sensors detected the wave before anyone else. It summoned their greatest tool with the ships computers. It survived the Chaos Wave. Noone else did.

That was three months ago…

Now

An Unspecified Place

It was dangerous. She knew it. But, that was always her problem. Never knew when to quit. Zachary's greatest weapon? How could she pass it up?

Easily. she thought, dodging yet another Guardian Droid. It glowed in the dark, giving her ample warning. No way there should be so many, or any, for that matter, Echidnan Guardian bots so far from the Island. But then again, Zachary always did have a trick or three up his sleeve.

The place was ancient, no doubt about it. Little pieces of moss grew here and there. The occasional scummy pond was a minor distraction. The drip of water on steel got grating after a while, but her boss was quite clear on what she had to do. Find Zachary's weapon, get it, get out. Easy as 1, 2, 3.

Finally, a door. And beyond, yet another dark, dingy room. A definite theme. But in the center, a pod of some sort. The weapon. It had to be.

Well, that was easy. Famous last words.

Emerald Hill Zone

Sonic sat on cool grass. It was so rare these days. The chance to just sit and relax. After everything the past few months, Shadow, Zachary, the Syndicate, and that whole thing with Vichama, he sometimes thought things were easier when Robotnik ruled the planet. Sometimes.

He lay back, closing his eyes. Today, at least, he was going to get a tan. Maybe a nice, cool Croke with chips. No maniacs, no monsters, no robots, no invading aliens. Today Mobius was the paradise Kintobor intended it to be.

Hidden Palace Zone

It was good. The Emeralds were humming, the shields were up, and Tikal was away, doing whatever it was she did. It wasn't a bad life, guarding the Emeralds. He just wished it was over. To finally walk free, without the burden of worrying about the Emeralds, and an Island ten thousand times older than him. Sometimes he wondered about that. Didn't matter. This was his job, his duty. His destiny?

The Emeralds have caused so much destruction. Super Sonic alone almost destroyed the planet more than once. And what Shadow did…What if Zachary was right? I failed so many times… What gives me the right to continue this? Why were they created? I always thought they were sacred to my race, but now…too much is happening too fast. After Vichama…

BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP

What now?

Metropolis Zone

It wasn't easy. It never was. But what could the Chaotix do? Wallow in self pity? Become another minority on a planet they'd never been on longer than ten minutes before? It was blindingly obvious, though. With Vectors brain, Mightys muscle and Espios experience, it was easy to establish themselves as detectives. Charmee was the problem. He always was.

Which is why Vector had sent him out to find a lost car. At least there was some peace with him gone. A little bit of Zeminen , the only good musician on this planet, an open window, bliss.

Until the Omni Viewer began acting weird. The image faded and strengthened, and finally changed completely. Vector didn't recognise the guy.

“Good morning. You are Vector of the Chaotix Crew, correct? Then you understand how difficult it is to hack this machine.”

“Who are you?”

“I'm someone who needs assistance, Vector. Something very bad is happening. The world, probably more, is in danger. And you are the only ones who can save it.”

“Why should I trust you?”

“Do you know where Mighty is?”

“West Metropolis, of course.”

“No. Someone has taken him. My enemy. Your enemy.”

“Where is he?” It was little more than a growl. Noone threatened his team.

“Mighty is on board one of Doctor Robotniks attack craft.”

“Where?”

“I'm not sure. But there is a construction base off Green Beach Coast. The coordinates are probably there.”

Vector cracked his knuckles. No choice, really. He called Espio and Charmee.

Green Beach Zone

Amy glanced at the paper again. And it still didn't make sense. Why would Sonic, of all people, kidnap a Chao from its garden? She had to talk to him, and he wasn't answering his communicator. Well, at least Cream was pleasant company. And the only person for miles was the fishing cat.

“Cream, are you sure it was Sonic?” she repeated for the thousandth time. As if she hadn't heard the answer a thousand times before. Sonic had attacked Cream, grabbed Cheese's brother Chocola, and vanished. What no one knew was why.

A sudden breeze ruffled her spikes, and Creams ears. An unusually strong breeze, mind you. And when she heard the yell, she knew it wasn't a breeze. Sonic was here. And the cat was flat on his back, with a huge fish in his paws.

“Hand it over!” Sonic demanded, his voice unnatural. His eyes flashed fire. The cat was scared, scrambling. The fish frantically crawled away. Too late. Sonic grabbed it and was gone, streaking into the forest.

By the time Amy and Cream got there, the cat was sitting up, still too stunned to talk. “Are you alright?!” Amy called, worried. What the hell was going on?! “Buddy…” was all the cat could say.

Amy reached for her crossbow, ready to head after Sonic (it wasn't Sonic! It couldn't be!), but Cream grabbed her arm. “I want to come too!”

“Cream, no. Sonic…if that was Sonic, I can't let anyone else get in the way.”

Then she saw the look in Creams eyes. Heh, she'd used that look herself more than once. She relented. If it was one of her friends, she'd act just the same. The cat looked at them, uneasy.

“C'n I come? If Buddy's in trouble, I have to help him. Please?” Pleading.

What could she say? Well, “okay” would do. But…

“Lets go, then. We've got some friends to save.”

The Floating Island

This was new. A huge metallic dragon flying just off the Island. Knuckles was prepared for most things, but this was definitely not one of them.

Okay. Maybe twenty feet away. Could glide out there. No way back. Why isn't it doing anything? Just floating there. Almost like a…

…distraction.

Uh oh.

Too late. The Island shook. And began to fall.

Emerald Hill Zone

The wave was big. Too big. Couldn't have been natural. Porkers instruments confirmed it.

Tails flew into his bi-plane. Nervous. But that was natural. Mystery thing crashes into the ocean? Okay. He could handle that. Wasn't the hero of the Nameless Zone for nothing.

Oh wait…

Better get some back-up. Just in case.

An Unspecified Place

This was unexpected. Shadow? But she saw him die. Correction. She watched as he burned out the last of his Chaos energy saving Robotnik from an exploding ship that she got left behind on.

At least he was un-active. The tube was cracked, true. In fact, it looked as old as this place did. Maybe older. Which made no sense.

The Watcher is old. He has waited centuries. His duty will be completed. Death to all intruders.

She examined the tube. No connections anywhere. Which made no sense. It was clearly getting power from somewhere. And the stuff he was floating in was clear, like water. Maybe the power came from the liquid? But since Shadow survived on Chaos energy…

The Watcher prepared his weapons. The intruder was completely unaware of his presence. Foolish. Very foolish.

And then, it happened. Shadow woke up.

And everything went red.

The Ocean

Sonic and Tails arrived just in time to see the last of the Island sink beneath the waves. Hundreds of feet below them, Knuckles clung to a floating tree, cursing himself.

“Can't you do anything without me looking over your shoulder, red?!”

Oh great. Spikys here. Just what I need.

That plus a plank with a nail in it.

The rope touched his shoulder. He grabbed it and began to climb.

An Unspecified Place

Shadow moved like lightning. The tube didn't even slow him down. As Rouge hit the floor, she realised she had given him no reason to like her. None at all.

But he wasn't concerned with her. He bounced off the walls, colliding solidly with some bizarre robot in the corner. The two wrestled for a moment, while she watched in awe.

Think, Rouge, think! What would the House want you to do?

She grabbed them, forced them apart. She needed answers before anything else.

The robot hit some wires in the corner. Shadow was too quick, though. He used it to bounce off another wall. He sure moved like the real Shadow…

“Enough!” she yelled. “Both of you, sit down!”

Shadow and the robot glared at her. Shadow, at least, was sullen. No change there.

“He started it.” he muttered.

What? Shadow never… This is getting too weird.

“I don't care. Do you even know why you're fighting?!”

“It is my duty, given to me by Doctor Zachary.” the robot intoned. Dull, emotionless. Just the way Zach liked `em.

“And how long ago was this?”

“During the Great War.”

Well, thatmakes sense. 8000 years? Not likely.

Shadow looked around.

“What is this place?” Unsure. Last time she saw him, he was like a rock. Never freaked or unnerved.

“Shadow, what do you remember?”

No reply.

She took his arm. “Shadow-”

“Is that my name?”

“You don't remember?” Interesting.

Cliché, but interesting.

“Shadow, what do you remember?”

Fire? Pain? Super Sonic?

“Nothing.” Scared.

“I don't remember anything!”

She turned to the robot. She needed answers, and right now, he was the best bet.

“Robot! Where is Doctor Zachary?”

“Location unknown. Status unknown.” Still emotionless.

“Do you have a name?”

“Designation: E-123 Omega. Created as the Ultimate Guardian of the treasures of the Echidna Empire.”

“And you work for Zachary?”

“I protect the Echidna Empire. Thus, I guard the Ultimate Lifeform.”

“Omega, its been 8,000 years since the Empire.”

“Does not compute.”

“The echidnas lost the war.”

“Does not compute.”

“Zachary knows where they are. The survivors, at least.”

“Must protect Echidna race.”

“Then you will come with us after Zachary.”

“You seek to harm the Doctor?” Threatening. Its fingers flex. No doubt its got a cannon ready for her.

“He tried to steal the Emeralds. Betrayed the Empire. He's the enemy.”

“Computing.”

What now?

Shadow glanced at the pod that had contained him. The water pooled around his feet. Chaos energy sparked within it. It had almost been drained dry of energy. He chose his next words carefully.

“This Zachary, would he know who I am?”

“Probability-98 chance he can provide answers. Probability-73 Zachary has betrayed Empire.”

“I will go with you to confront the Doctor.”

Rouge smirked. It hasn't that hard after all.

“Ah yeah, baby. This makes us a team.”

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The cast is assembled. The game begins…